Give us truth on Benghazi

Nov. 17, 2012 12:00 AMThe Republic | azcentral.com

Evidence (as it slowly dribbles out) demonstrates that an awful lot of the confusion over the Sept. 11 attacks on Americans at Benghazi, Libya, began with the Obama administration. And over the months since the attacks resulting in the murders of four Americans, the administration has done very little to clear things up.

Closed-door meetings by congressional intelligence committees are not helping. From Republicans and Democrats, we get conflicting accounts of what was said. This is a sure-fire recipe to promote skepticism and conspiracy theories. Americans need a lot more candor. A lot more transparency.

Let us see the videos. Let us hear the phone calls. Let us hear from the key figures, read the contemporaneous accounts. Whether this is done through a select committee or open hearings of the intelligence committees doesn't matter. Just make it all available.

Only then can we clear up the questions. Were warnings ignored? Were precautions taken? Why was the response to the attack so inadequate? Did the White House intentionally seek to cast the attacks as something they were not to mislead Americans?

The latest evidence is a camelback-breaker:

On Friday, former CIA Director David Petraeus reportedly told lawmakers in a closed meeting that the Benghazi "talking points" recited by U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice on the Sunday-morning talk shows differed substantially from the information his agency provided the White House.

Rice declared, repeatedly and emphatically, on Sept. 16, that the best information available from intelligence sources was that public outrage spurred by an anti-Muslim video prompted demonstrations that led to the violence.

According to Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., Petraeus told lawmakers he knew almost immediately the attacks were planned and conducted by Ansar al Sharia, a terrorist group sympathetic to al-Qaida.

The CIA provided the White House with analysis indicating Ansar al Sharia's involvement, Petraeus reportedly said. But by the time Rice showed up on the talk shows, those "talking points" had evolved into something else.

Why? Who was the editor?

Let us not fool ourselves about what has brought us to this point. It isn't a tawdry sex scandal. And it certainly isn't the fault of Sen. John McCain, who is keeping his eye on the essential fact that four Americans are dead and our leaders contradict themselves about how and why they died.

Obama and his aides have aggressively thickened the fog of acrimony these past months regarding events in Benghazi. Regarding what the White House knew the night of the attacks and in the immediate aftermath, Obama has been far, far less than helpful.